Maureen Blackstone grew up looking at the Devon Horse Show (Pa.) from afar. It was a show of superlatives—too far, too expensive, too competitive. But in 2016, the stars aligned, and Blackstone found herself trotting into the jumper ring at Devon on her spunky, pint-sized Craigslist mare. And rather than focusing on the task at hand, Blackstone was entirely preoccupied with the lights.

“It was my first class at Devon, and my first class ever riding under the lights—it was just so cool! I rode into the ring completely distracted like, ‘I can’t believe I’m here!’ ” she said.

Last year was the first I became a member of the regional eventing association for the first time. I thought it would be a good opportunity to be more officially part of the local eventing community, and it just made sense to become eligible to earn year-end awards at shows I was already attending.